Congress, BJP tear into Arvind Kejriwal over Hazare's CD

November 20, 2013 19:09 IST

The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday slammed Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal after a video, showing anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare purportedly expressing disappointment over the alleged misuse of funds collected during the Jan Lokpal Bill drive by the AAP, surfaced on Wednesday.

"The CD of Anna's allegation against Kejriwal of misappropriation of funds collected at the Ramlila Maidan again proves my allegation! Would Kejriwal and his friends on social media please react," Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said on Twitter.com.

The BJP also lashed out at the AAP, with party spokesman Praksah Javadekar saying, "We are not interested in knowing the details (about the money), but it seems Anna is not happy”.

"(Anna is saying that) the money collected in his name is being misused for electioneering. This has actually exposed the AAP and its hypocrisy," he added.

Meanwhile, Kejriwal said that he was "very, very sad" over the video, even as Hazare came forward to clarify that there was no tiff between the two of them, only differences of opinion, which could be sorted.

"A picture has been painted as if there is a tiff between myself and Arvind, as if I have accused him. That is wrong, this is not an accusation; there are differences of opinion and we are trying to sort them out," he said.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal told reporters that he was "very, very sad after seeing the video. I could have made crores from the job I left. I have only been honest in my life".

The video presented AAP's rivals in the Delhi assembly elections with ammunition against Kejriwal and his aides. Both the Congress and the BJP used it to level allegations at the party which is getting ready for its first poll outing.

Singh said, "If you see my tweets and statements at the time, I had clearly said that it is all a process to make money. An innocent man like Hazare is being duped by them. This has been proved that the money made from people during the whole movement has been used by the AAP”.

Congress spokesman Meem Afzal claimed that the CD had "exposed" Kejriwal and showed "not only the misappropriation of funds but also the corruption of ideology".

Afzal even alleged that the AAP was working in tandem with the BJP as the main opposition party in the Delhi assembly had been backing Hazare's movement.

The CD, Afzal alleged, showed that Hazare had been raising the issue of funds to the tune of Rs 3 crore with Kejriwal for the last one year.

The video emerged a day after Hazare sought answers from Kejriwal over the "misuse" of his name.

The video recording of a closed-door meeting in December 2012 shows Anna saying he was disappointed the way Rs 3 crore, collected in his name during the Lokpal agitation, was misused.

Reacting to the accusations, AAP said that the video was around a year old and was an effort by political rivals to malign its image.

"I would be surprised if filthier things do not happen. In the next 48-72 hours, such things are bound to happen because, you see, we are out to challenge some huge vested interests," said AAP leader Yogendra Yadav.

Image: Arvind Kejriwal with his supporters at a protest ' Photograph: Reuters